temp flucuations

[EZFarms]

We recently bought a cheap little bator that holds a few eggs and we just got it to see the hatching process only problem is the temp keeps going down to 80 or less is this going to effect the growing embryo?

 

[Kelsie2290]

It would depend on how often and how long the temperatures are down ... the eggs will take longer to cool than the air. Broodys do get off the nest 1+ a day, and some incubators even do periodic cooling, but to long or to often is going to be a problem. Brinsea has a good article on temperature effects on developing eggs.
http://brinsea.com/customerservice/poweroff.html

 

[EZFarms]

Most of the time its late at night so say maybe 8 hours ish? the temp gets down around 80 ish when the house cools down

 

[Kelsie2290]

If I understand correctly, the eggs are at 80* for 8+ hours? That reads like it will be a definite problem, do you have a room with a higher/ more stable temperature?

 

[EZFarms]

Actually more like 5 ish but the eggs are less then a week old.
no we have wood heat so it gets cold when everyone is asleep

 

[Kelsie2290]

I wouldn't be real hopeful with those temps for this hatch, but who knows, you might get lucky. Most incubators say they should be in a draft free place with a stable temperature around 70-80, most say not to use below 60* ... you may wind up having to wait until spring/summer when the temps don't drop as low overnight. You could try insulating the incubator, towels or something around it at night maybe to help it conserve heat next time?

 

[EZFarms]

We have started insulating it and its only dropping to the high 90s now. im hopinh we still get lucky only due to the eggs are still young

 

[Hope Frazier]

I would cover it with a towel at night to hold the heat in. We had the same thing happen to us a couple of nights ago when a cold front blew in and we didnt have the heat on. I covered the incubator with towels and brought the temp back to where it needed to be in under an hour. Maybe a heating pad under the bator at night would help, too?

 

[rayray983]

My brother has a small incubator holds like 7 eggs don't remember brand he has wood heat so lots of fluctuating temps :-/ I'm new to incubation but what my brother does is he places his incubator inside a cardboard box that roughly 2 ft by 2 ft then covers it with blanket and checks on it throughout the day and leaves it alone at night and he normally has a 90 to 100% hatch rate

 

[EZFarms]

@rayray983 we are new to incubating to but thats what we do. these eggs are the first of the year from our hens so they may ehd ip not even being fertile